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Across the Fence:  Your family background  |
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sleepless reader
True Blue Farmgirl
1022 Posts
CA
USA
1022 Posts |
 Posted - Jan 18 2006 : 10:34:13 AM
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This is all so interesting! My mom's side was really into keeping things hidden, or at least giving everybody a different story.Imagine playing "telephone" with your family history. My mom was the last of 8, so I don't know if she knows the truth about anything.Her dad came from Eastern Europe with a family friend and the friend's wife (they couldn't have children, but could afford to bring one more to America. My grandfather's family sent him (as a young boy) because they felt he'd have the best chance). His last name was Sofranko. My maternal grandmother was a Kollar. Grandpa was a coal miner in Western PA. My paternal grandparents were Herd (grandma; her family emigrated from England) and Hankins.Apparently, the Hankins went way back in New Jersey and Virginia. My cousin has done the research for that side. SO are any of you all related? :)
My big regret is that I don't have anything in writing form any of the grandparents about what their lives were like and that I didn't move quick enough to talk to the Aunts and Uncles either.They are going quickly. My husband's family has better longevity. His grandma lived to be 104!
Sharon
Life is messy. Wear your apron! |
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CabinCreek-Kentucky
True Blue Farmgirl
8529 Posts
Frannie
Green County
Kentucky
USA
8529 Posts |
Posted - Jan 18 2006 : 10:53:32 AM
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well, let's see now .. i've always thought i was a 'princess' .. so somewhere back in that english heritage .. there MUST be a king or queen or two!
True Friends, Frannie |
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Luzy
True Blue Farmgirl
922 Posts
Luanne
Pueblo
Colorado
USA
922 Posts |
Posted - Jan 18 2006 : 11:23:05 AM
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Hey Jenny, I just saw your post of Nov 7th where you talk about having Turners in your family. My Dad had 1st cousins (turners) from Ok and Ark. We should compare notes! Luzy
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May I always be the kind of person my dog thinks I am. |
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crazymoose
Farmgirl in Training
38 Posts
Caryn
Auburn
WA
38 Posts |
Posted - Jan 18 2006 : 2:18:20 PM
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Lucky for me, I have an paternal Aunt that got into genealogy and has done alot of digging. She has been able to make contact and meet relations that are still living. First, my dad's line goes back to Gloucestshire, England. A father, brother and son trio left aboard a ship called Lyons and landed at Ipswich,Mass in 1634. He left behind his wife and other children and would send for them when he was settled. A relative put together a book that discusses what the family did; farmers and hat makers. The line that I came from moved to Iowa and farmed, then onto Montana and farmed then up to Abbotsford, BC, Canada and farmerd and is still farming to this day. There is Dairy farm, cemetary, and road all with my last name on it. My dad used to have an uncle that had the most profitable pig farm and I got to tour it when I was 10. All I remember was it smelled and my grandma got peed on by a pig. It is also when I learned what happens to baby cows and where veal comes from and I was so hoping to bring a calf home. I fell in love with one of the calves (sp?), it had kissed me and I so wanted to bring it, only to find out the next morning it was gone. I swore I would never eat veal again. The family book mentions an ancestor being hanged in Mass. because she was a witch. Then another ancestor changing his name so he could marry his sister. I do know that when my paternal line moved to Abbotsford, there were two brothers both farmers and when the states put in the Washington line for the state it spilt the two brothers and I come from the Canada side.
As for my grandpa's mom's side all we know is she was mostly Blackfoot Indian, Seminole Indian and some German thrown in and she is from Montana.
My dad's mom's dad's side, it turns out to be Scot-Irish. My Aunt has recently found still living relatives and has been able to trace that side of the family all the way to 1880 something in either NC or Virginia to a McDaniel that came from Scotland. My Aunt has found with help from still living relative that the name changed to MacDaniel and MacDonnel and one other. He made it to Va or NC, his wife died, he remarried had children then he died and his wife and children moved out west. Settling in Oregon somewhere then moving to Yakima, WA. Now, my dad's mom's mom's side is French Canadian. Her great grandma lived in Yakima, Wa and her family and the settlement they lived with was under attack by Indians and her grt-grandma hid in a creek and was the only survior of the attack. My grandpa says there is a memorial stick or something in the ground in Yakima where it happend. My dad's mom died when my dad was in his 20s. All I know is she had red hair and my grandpa says i have her hands.
My mom's dad's line is of Norweigian and Swedish heritage. My grandpa has a paper with name of people that shows the generations with the original spellings of the names and when the last name changed to an easier spelling. How I understood it was that my grandpa's dad was born in Norway is of Half Norweigian and Half swedish. His family moved to North Dakota and he got a couple more siblings. The paper shows how the earlier generations were named, like a boy would be named john doe-son, (just example and no hypens), a daughter would have the word daughter in it. So that everyone would be something son or daughter and the first name became the last name (it could be the other way around). When my grt-grandfather came to ND they stopped doing that kind of naming and just chose names and the last name remained the same. My grandpa's mom is said to be pure norweigian.
My mom's mom's line is really cool because we have so many photos of them with last names. Its really amazing. We have a photo of four generation women in it there is my grandma as a baby being held by her mom and then my great-great grandma is sitting next to her mom. The two sitting are Chick-a-saw Indians. The picture was taken in Texas somewhere in front of a wood house. My grtx3 grandma was in the trail of tears walk then when she got to OK she was made to walk to SD then made to walk back to OK. We don't know why about the second walk. My uncle has a newspaper clipping about her being in her 80's or 90's being one of the first women in TX to go for an airplane ride and not being afraid of it. I don't know how many kids she had. One of her daughters, my great great grandma married a German. We have her wedding photo, she is so happy and smiling in it. I don't know how many kids she had either. One of her daughters, my great grandma married a man of English, German and maybe some Scot and Irish mixed in, we don't really know. Now she lived long enough for me to know her, she always stayed in my room when she came to visit and she would pinch cheeks really hard. I don't remember my grandma, but mom had did have a four generation picture taken of me, mom, grandma and great grandma. I think I'm two in it.
Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead. Louisa May Alcott |
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RachelLeigh
True Blue Farmgirl
635 Posts
Rachel
Rainier
WA
USA
635 Posts |
Posted - Jan 18 2006 : 3:31:04 PM
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My father is huge into geneology and has traced both sides of my family back for several hundred years. My ancestors on his side came from Germany. Daniel Boone is my Great (x18) Grandfather. On my father's side, we are distantly related to Tom Cruise and Michelle Pfeiffer. My mother's side of the family was from England. We had one ancester who was beheaded in the Tower of London (although I am fuzzy on what she did to deserve that punishment.) My father is researching my husband's family right now. My husband is descended from slaves who were brought over from Africa to central KY. In fact, he is from the same county where his ancestors lived and worked on a plantation. His last name is that of the slave owners (he went to school with white people who have his last name who were descended from the slave owner while he is descended from the slaves.) His mother's side of the family shares the same story. It's very fascinating but we have been unable, of course, to trace it back past the plantation his ancestors lived on. I hope we can discover more on all sides of our family because I want my children to truly understand and appreciate their heritage. My father has made me promise to continue the geneology work after he's gone (and he's got stacks and stacks of paperwork so far!)
My blog: mycountryhome.blogspot.com |
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Aunt Jenny
True Blue Farmgirl
11381 Posts
Jenny
middle of
Utah
USA
11381 Posts |
Posted - Jan 18 2006 : 4:48:37 PM
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LuZy...cousin???????? Wouldn't THAT be cool????!!!
For sure lets compare notes!!!!
Jenny in Utah
It's astonishing how short a time it takes for very wonderful things to happen...Frances Burnette
http://www.auntjennysworld.blogspot.com/ visit my little online shop at www.auntjenny.etsy.com |
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Celticheart
True Blue Farmgirl
811 Posts
Marcia
WA
USA
811 Posts |
Posted - Jan 18 2006 : 8:19:57 PM
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Well Jenny! We Johnson girls(or descendants of) need to stick together...lol. Johnson is my maiden name.
I've been blessed with a mother, grandfather, two grandmothers and several aunts who have been doing geneaology for about a hundred years(or so it seems). My mom has stacks and stacks of information on both sides of our family going back into the 1400's. We are VERY Scottish with strong ties to clans Graham, Johnston(e), Bell and Robertson to name just a few. The are many more. At highland games she always tells me what tents I need to sign in to but I can never remember. Both of our trips to England, Scotland and Wales have revolved around research.
In my mom's family the most recent ancestors to come to North America came in 1840 into Canada and then down into Minneapolis-St. Paul. I'm not sure when my dad's family came but two of his families came west by wagon train in 1847. I was also lucky enough to have had full sets of grandparents and was only two short of full sets of great grandparents when I was a little girl. They told some great stories.
One of my great grandmas lived to be 103 We have a video-taped interview with her on her 100th birthday that is priceless. She was a teacher in Iowa. She defied her father and came west to teach school...first in Wyoming and then in Washington state where she met my great grandpa. The rest is 'history.' The best part of the interview is when my cousin asked her what she thought the first time she met grandpa. She said "That's really none of your business." The interview was over.
"I suppose the pleasure of country life lies really in the eternally renewed evidence of the determination to live." Vita Sackville-West
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Across the Fence: Your family background |
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Your family background
